Choose the Right Facebook Apps for Your Promotions

Mari reviews the latest Facebook rules for contests, sweepstakes and drawings. You’ll want to listen to this to make sure you understand these rules and how third-party Facebook apps can help you run contests.

Michael Stelzner is the founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner, and host of the Social Media Marketing podcast. He also authored the books Launch and Writing White Papers. Other posts byMichael Stelzner »

http://athomewithheather.com Heather Masson

What an info packed blog… I just set up a facebook page yesterday, and so these tips come in very timely for me. I especially like the clobby app to be able to chat on your page.

http://www.growyourdivinebusiness.com Kim

I am trying to view the video and it’s telling me it is private and I need to accept the senders friend request to view it.

I’ve viewed Mari’s videos in the past and haven’t had an issue, please help!!

http://www.internetmarketingblog.gr/ @bartzokas

Yeah me too!!

http://www.stayonsearch.com Mark Thompson

I never knew about the Foursquare application. Just installed it on a number of my clients websites. Pretty cool!

You can also look at North Social, they have a ton of professional apps for your Fan Page.

It is working now. GREAT tips on Facebook marketing! New apps I didn’t know about. Will definitely put them to good use. Thank You.

http://www.internetmarketingblog.gr/ @bartzokas

Thanks

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Thanks, Heather!! Yay, Clobby is such fun – it’s amazing how many people are online and love to come and have an impromptu live chat! Check out http://donut.com for more chat solutions by the same Clobby app makers.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Awesome!! Enjoy.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13803832 Nick Robinson

Great tip at the end! Facebook should be the hub for your audience before they discover your blog, products, or services. Amazing.

rvanarsdale

so if we use Wildfireapp say on facebook to run a promotion for a small business we do not need to have a $10,000 ad spend on facebook even if it is administred through a facebook tab?

http://twitter.com/RebeccaRuck Rebecca Ruck

Great information for the small business using facebook to connect! I really enjoyed your video and can’t wait to share what I learned:)

Cindy

Great information. I love the trick on going onto the date stamp and that each post has its own url. Thanks for all you do and can’t wait for the Summit.

Thanks for the placewidget tip. That is going to be great. Combine that with some metics around check-ins and you’ve really got something.

Leigh

Fantastic, easy to follow information. Loved that tip at the end – I didn’t know I could do that!

http://athomewithheather.com Heather Masson

I never knew about Foursquare either, it’s on my list of to-do’s for thing morning

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Thanks a mil, Mark!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Thanks, Nick. Hmmm, probably different folks have different opinions. Facebook can certainly be the hub for actual conversation, but I do recommend focusing on your own blog/site for ultimately where you want to drive traffic (subscribers, signups, customers etc).

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Correct!!! Wildfireapp.com or vitrue.com or involver.com or contextoptional.com are all approved apps that you can run promotions/contests through!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Thanks, Cindy!! Looking forward to having you with us for the Facebook Success Summit!!!

No, actually I JUST found them about 2 days ago. I took at look at their apps and they seem pretty slick. Let me know if you use them, I would love to hear how they are.

Mikevet99

A ton of power packed Golden Nuggets!!!

Jeff

Outstanding video with great tips. I’m most excited about the live video opportunities.

Mikevet99

Hello Mari, I was wondering if you could elaborate on why you suggest to focus on your own Blog site?

http://www.facebook.com/dinalima1 Dina Lima

Thank you Mari for another informative session!

Bekki M

These were some really great tips on Facebook Apps — Totally applicable to company’s just starting out with a Facebook Fan Page and looking to spice it up a bit. Also, the presentation by Mari Smith was excellent!

Susan Jacobs

Great info. Thanks for answering my question about how to add FourSquare to my biz page.

Coby Venable

Very informative! Anything that can be done to boost a business page is vital. As social media platforms continue to outdo each other, we will continue to have more and more features at our disposal. For those of you just getting started on your business Facebook page MapDynamics.com is in the midst of a Facebook for trade shows which could apply to any business. Enjoy! (http://www.map-dynamics.com/blog.php)

http://www.extremejohn.com/ Extreme John

One of my favorite things about the Facebook fan page for my small business for me is the giveaways, it’s also one of the most annoying things as well. Managing and distributing prizes across 7 different locations and ensuring no internal theft occurs in the process can be frustrating and certainly time consuming.

I will be checking the WIld Fire, Fan appz, etc. Great post thank you.

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

heheee – thanks, Lloyd – your comment made me grin from ear to ear!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Ahhhh, now *that* app, Jon, would be the holy grail of all apps. Alas, I have not heard of a reliable app that will send notifications/emails with fan activity. However, I’m convinced this surely *has* to be a feature Facebook will work on integrating themselves down the road…. she says, patiently drumming fingers on the desk. Lol!!

Aw, thanks heaps for saying!!! “Turquoise and bling, that’s my thing” – Lol!! I only ever wear shades of turquoise/light blue when out and about. 90% of my wardrobe is this color – part of my branding and just something fun (and strategic!) I started about two years ago! Even all my luggage matches when I travel. hehe! I’m trying to make sure all my outfits are different for the SocialMediaExaminer TV shows – http://www.youtube.com/socialmediaexaminer

http://www.alphacomputer.ca/wpactc Jeff Brown

Good job on keeping it simple yet very informative Mari. Great ideas to us to try. Loved the tip.

YES!! I really enjoy doing live video streaming — I’ve checked out so many of these apps, but quite frankly if I’m going to stream from my fan page, the app really has to function inside of a tab so viewers/new visitors stay *inside* of Facebook. I’m continuing to scope out more, but meantime for sure Vpype is a clear winner!!! (I love how it also saves and archives the actual chat stream too!!)

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Hiya Susan!!!! heheee – more than happy to include you. You’re a TV superstar now, see?!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Awesome – thanks for sharing, Cory!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Wowee, you sure have your work cut out, John!!! Indeedy, the contest apps out there are really sophisticated, yet simple to use and reasonably priced for what you get!! Another one is contextoptional.com and see also bulbstorm.com too.

Sure! Thing is, when you build your own email opt-in list, this is the height of true permission-based marketing. Your prospects are giving you their name and email address asking for you to serve them with valuable content along with marketing messages. In essence, when people join your Facebook page, they’re giving you similar permission. But, the big difference is your Facebook page is not under your direct control – whereas your blog and email list are always under your control.

Granted, many big brands are starting to ONLY drive viewers/traffic to their Facebook fan page in likes of TV ads. Reason being, that is where people spend the majority of their online time. Facebook users hang out on Facebook longer than any other site.

So – meet the people where they are, engage with them, build lasting relationships with them. BUT, ultimately, bring them back to your own hub *as well* as that’s where you’ll sell your products and services, etc. Plus, the more traffic to your own site, the more you can sell your own ads (think Mashable, Huffington Post!).

Hope this makes sense!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Many thanks, Rebecca – glad to hear you enjoyed today’s episode!!

http://twitter.com/papayamaya Maya Grinberg

Thanks so much for the shout, Mari! It can definitely be daunting to consider the strict rules around promotions administered on Facebook, but can be much easier with the understanding that its ok to run promotions on Facebook that are administered by approved third party app developers. Our application is fully compliant with all of Facebook’s promotional guidelines– in fact we’re one of their Preferred Developer Clients and work very closely with the Facebook team.

We’re always thankful for your continued support of our product and our team! Go pied piper!

AngieVanDenzen

Hi Lonnie,

Foursquare has been delayed, but I’ve had success in claiming a number of non-cafe venues. The current Foursquare process is as below, I believe it’s the latest. I find their response time has been improving their over time as their systems develop.

Great info. I started using the chat app right away. The tip about the direct link to posts and tabs was something I was actually looking for! You guys are super!

http://www.facebook.com/jlinos1 John Linardatos

I am using North Social they have a lot of apps and their pricing is very reosonable

http://blog.jeroenhoekman.com Jeroen Hoekman

Excellent post Mari, it is amazing how many apps and options I had not heard about before.

Nixon Lee

Love this place..it’s always a wealth of information! great stuff Mari!.

GeorgiaB

awesome thanks mari

Jones

Fantastic! Found it super useful! Thanks so much Mari!

Juliette

I’d like to know more about administering contests on FB. Love to see you do something a little more in depth about that, Mari. Thanks for the great content!

D_W

Great post Mari! One question regarding the ‘updated’ facebook rules around contests. (as I currently use wildfire app, which is very easy to use and offers some great features) Are we now able to run a competition that requires entrants to ‘like’ our page and run this through our own site insted of using these contest apps? Thanks Mari!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R6KKIKOG57FWYWW5DURB3GHVOE Stven Hord

Mari reviews the recent Facebook rules for contests, sweepstakes and drawings. Want to listen to this to ensure that you understand these rules and how third party applications, Facebook can help you organize competitions.

I agree, it was a great learning experience & made me realize the upcoming event will be full of huge insights!

http://www.xcellimark.com/ Brittany Shelley

Loved this article! I just installed the Foursquare App for a client. Thanks a bunch!

http://www.tonyaponte.me/ Tony Aponte

This is a great post, Mari. I just finished setting up my new fanpage and this couldn’t have come at a better time. I actually have 2 fanpages and two separate blogs that relate to each of my fanpages so using the networked blog app will help tremendously.

Thanks Tony

http://bfound-socialmarketplace.com Bfound-Social MarketPlace

Great tips Mari!!! I am using Networked blogs already and it fantastic to drive traffic from your Fan page to your blog. I will try Foursquare on my Fan page to see how it goes. Your video was very interesting and and your coaching is awesome!!

http://www.facebook.com/FloraTorculas Flora Torculas

Your branding Mari really works! Every time I see turquoise stuffs, it always reminds me of you.

By the way, thanks for the valuable information you shared on this video, especially about engaging fans using Clobby! I just installed the apps to my clients’ pages. Great hooray to you Mari!

Can’t wait to hear more great stuffs on the coming Facebook Summit.

Cheers, Flora

http://ayannamitchell.com Ayanna K Mitchell

First time visitor – found you on a link from someone’s page. Awesome content here so I’ve quite obviously subscribed. Looking forward to more valuable information.

Just noticed that you used my fan page for the segment on adding a Foursquare tab. Cool! =) Also, thanks again for featuring my page in your “9 Companies Doing Facebook Right” webinar. I’ve met all sorts of new people as a result, and enjoyed a nice bump in my fan base too!

Thanks heaps, Jeroen! Phew yes, there are soooooo many apps out there!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Woohoo!!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

Ah yes, North Social look like good peeps!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

My pleasure – glad you enjoyed it!!

http://marismith.com/ Mari Smith

LOL – hey Maya!! Truly my pleasure to fly the flag for Wildfire!!

Dana Korey

Hi Mari, as always you are content rich! Thanks for the tips! Dana

http://www.facebook.com/linnea.blair Linnea Blair

Hi Mari, Thanks so much for sharing these apps. I was especially interested in the contests apps as I have a client who can use this now.:)

http://www.facebook.com/jacqueline.e.peters Jacqueline Peters

Hi Mari,

Thanks for the awesome tips. I learn something new every time.

http://www.facebook.com/RobinTramble Robin G Tramble

Empowering tips as usual Mari. I used to inhale everything you put out because you made it so easy to follow. It’s great to glean from your expertise once again. I’m already using networked blogs, however, the apps and the bit on the unique urls sound interesting. I plan on checking them out. Thanks!

http://www.facebook.com/nanette.saylor Nanette Saylor

Thanks for the tips! Love the quick, easy format here and I’ve already recommended it to others.

Mari — Thanks so much for the contest info especially. I was just helping out a friend recently and we had this great idea for her to give samples of her AWESOME all natural aromatherapy body products via her Fan Page when I found a previous post of yours about the November rule changes — and did NOT discover the December amendment to that! So very excited that I can help @Robin Gil of http://HarmonyByJami.com get more visitors to her Fan Page AND sample her DIVINE products! You know how much I adore you Mari!

The Networked Blogs worked great on the fan page. Having a bit of trouble getting the Justin.tv stuff to work and link to my fan page instead of personal page. Do you have a link to a resource with a little more detail? BTW, when I set people up on Google Reader and add subscriptions – I add my blog and Social Media Examiner, keep up the great content! Thanks, Jamie

http://www.sigmabizlearning.com/ Jamie Gorman

Disregard (the justin.tv part, not the “keep up the great content” part) I found what I needed on their FB Fan page, duh! Can’t wait to try it out this afternoon. http://www.facebook.com/justintv

Edwertz

Great!!

Barbara

Nice tips, Mari.

I had problems with a couple of the apps. Not sure why. I set up Networked Blogs some time ago and friends confirmed me as the author, however whenever I go in to see if it’s working, there’s the same message saying Networked Blogs is down, try again later. Do you know if Facebook is having problems with that?

Also tried vpyp and it froze up each time. So that was disappointing. Tried contacting the creators but no luck.

I’m on a mac with the latest operating system, most updated flash, great web cam and mic (I use them with no problem for webinars). So I’m wondering if it’s a mac issue? These things look great – in theory – but I keep running into issues like this that makes it no fun. Do you know if other mac-ers are having these issues?

http://www.sigmabizlearning.com/ Jamie Gorman

I’ve had some issues with apps across the board too. Seemed to spend a lot of time getting them up and going. I’m not happy for your problems, but glad to see it’s not just me!

ldsalter

AWESOME INFO!!! & VERY WELL PUT TOGETHER!! THANKS!!!

luissandovaljr

Excellent video Mari! Just when I thought I knew enough you really dropped some great pieces of information in this video. You know sometimes the most obvious opportunities are the ones most overlooked. Thanks again and I’m looking forward to future videos.

Charlie Seymour Jr

The most impressive part of Mari’s video wasn’t the part about the Facebook apps – it was how well she does on camera. She uses several of the techniques we teach, and it was a pleasure to watch her… smart social marketer that she is!

Charlie Seymour Jr

Amina

Mari Smith! I must say that your video is so informative and amazing… I really Like it thanks for this great information

Jamie Hamilton

That’s was very helpful and interesting. Thanx for sharing.

http://stjamesdentalgroup.com Stjamesdental

Hi Mari. Thank you for such a great article and tips. I just signed up to foursquare like you said and claimed my location. I am a dentist and was wondering if I should do some kind of campaign and if you have any suggestions for new patinets and current patients. Thanks in advance.

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